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Smoking Lands Desert Mouth Maze
May 20, 2026 at 03:47 AM
Added gameplay screenshot
The Smoking Lands Desert Mouth Mazebetter known in guides as the Desert Border Maze or Celestial Mazeis the most elaborate of the four Maze Challenges in Crimson Desert. Rather than collecting Engraved Stones, this puzzle turns the entire gorge into a giant scale model: eleven stone plates scattered across the cliffs must be flipped to match a sun or moon pattern shown on a central platform. Solving it activates an Abyss Cresset and awards one Abyss Artifact.
Because the plates are scattered over vertical cliffs, spore fields, and underground passages, this maze doubles as a mini exploration route. Expect to climb, swing, and drop through narrow shafts to reach the outermost plates.
The maze sits in the Smoking Landsthe fumarole-laced northern edge of the Demeniss region, right where Demeniss borders the greater Crimson Desert. It appears on the world map as a Mysterious Energy marker, directly north of Hexe Sanctuary and west of Tommaso in Tashkalp. Two Abyss Nexus nodes flank the gorge, so fast travel is available on both approaches once those nexuses have been lit.
The gorge itself is a bowl-shaped valley ringed by sheer cliffs. A central flagstone platform hosts the Abyss Cresset and the stone diagram used to read the puzzle. Plates one through five sit on the inner ring, six through eight on a middle ledge, and nine through eleven on the outer walls and in an underground crevice.
Each plate is a double-sided disc. One face shows a sun symbol (engraved in orange), the other a moon symbol (engraved white). Striking a plate flips it to the opposite face. You can strike it with Force Palm up close or with Force Current at range, and both inputs are tied to the Axiom Force skill tree. When a plate sits on the correct face for the solution, a soft click echoes and the matching symbol on the central diagram glows blue.
The symbols on the plates themselves also swap between day and night in the game's world, but the solution is tied to the plate's underlying state rather than its visible face. In practice this means you only need to flip each plate once to lock it into the correct position, regardless of time of day. Use the central diagram as the source of truth, not the plate faces.
A hidden eleventh plate lives inside an underground crevice and is pre-set to the correct face by default. You do not need to flip it, but approaching it reveals a secret room with a chest and unlit torches.
Stand on the central platform near the Abyss Cresset before touching anything. Read the diagram: white marks on the disc indicate a plate that must end on the moon side, orange marks indicate a plate that must end on the sun side. The solution below matches what the diagram shows for every playthrough (plate positions are fixed, not randomized).
Plate | Correct Symbol | Notes |
|---|---|---|
1 | Sun | Inner ring, southeast of the central platform. Usually already sun-side in daylight. |
2 | Moon | Inner ring, southwest, tucked into a cliff pocket beside the Abyss Cresset. |
3 | Moon | Inner ring, northwest. Reach it via the overhead vine and drop onto the ledge. |
4 | Sun | Inner ring, east, on a higher cliff face directly above plate 3. |
5 | Sun | Inner ring, north, inside a narrow crevice reached by sidling through the rock wall. |
6 | Sun | Middle ring, southeast, on top of the column between plates 1 and 2. |
7 | Moon | Middle ring, northeast, across the chasm past plate 6. |
8 | Sun | Middle ring, north. Accessible on foot along the outer wall. |
9 | Moon | Outer ring, northeast corner, past a patch of glowing spores. Time the dash to avoid the spore burst. |
10 | Moon | Outer ring. Drop through the hole in the ground beyond plate 9 to reach a lower ledge. |
11 | Sun | Secret plate, already set correctly. Found underground via the hole near plate 7; do not flip it. |
Fast travel or ride to the gorge and light the central Abyss Cresset if it is not already lit.
Stand on the flagstone diagram. Note which plates show white (moon) and which show orange (sun).
Clear the inner ring first: flip plates 2 and 3 to moon; leave or flip plate 1 to sun; flip plates 4 and 5 to sun.
Climb or vault to the middle ring. Flip plate 6 to sun, plate 7 to moon, plate 8 to sun.
Push out to the outer ring. Flip plate 9 to moon, then drop through the hole beyond it for plate 10 and flip to moon.
Do not touch plate 11 in the secret chamber. It is already correct; any flip will unsolve the puzzle.
Return to the central platform. The final click seals the solution and the Abyss Cresset behind the platform activates, spawning an Abyss Artifact reward prompt.
Reward | Details |
|---|---|
One Abyss Artifactused to upgrade Abyss Gear and unlock higher tiers of elemental abilities | |
Abyss Cresset Activation | The Abyss Cresset at the center of the gorge becomes a permanent fast travel point |
Maze Pathfinder Progress | Counts as 1 of 4 maze completions toward the Maze Pathfinder bronze trophy and achievement |
Expert Explorer Progress | Also counts toward the Expert Explorer gold trophy, which requires all nine Exploration Challenge subcategories |
Secret Chest | The hidden room around plate 11 contains a common chest with generic loot |
Force Palm or Force Current. Either ability flips a plate. Force Current lets you hit high-up plates without climbing; Force Palm is faster in close quarters.
Check the diagram before every flip. The solution is fixed, but it is easy to misread the colors when the sun is overhead. Cycle camera angles if a plate seems ambiguous.
Watch the spore fields near plate 9. The yellow-green puffballs explode on contact and deal moderate damage. A well-timed dodge is enough to slip past them.
Do not flip plate 11. The secret chamber is easy to wander into after dropping through the hole near plate 7, and the plate reads like any other. It is already correct and flipping it desyncs the puzzle.
Time of day does not matter. The visible plate face swaps at night but the puzzle state does not, so you can solve it safely during either phase.
Bring a mount. The gorge has long travel distances between the outer plates. A horse or kirin cuts several minutes off the full route.
Maze Challenges - hub page for all four mazes and the Maze Pathfinder trophy
Smoking Lands - the volcanic sub-region that contains the maze
Demeniss - parent region north of the Crimson Desert
Hexe Sanctuary - closest named landmark south of the maze entrance
Force Palm - melee-range plate flipper
Axiom Force - parent skill tree that includes Force Palm and Force Current
Abyss Artifact - the main reward for completing any maze
Abyss Cresset - fast travel node activated by the solution
